Has it really only been two weeks?!?!?!? The chickens have grown so much and it seems like they have just been here forever. Ammon and I cleaned out the brooder coop today. We tried to put them in a cardboard box while we swept. We thought that would be less traumatic for them. Apparently we were wrong because every time we'd put one in the box and turn around to catch the next one, the first one would fly up out of the box and go back into the brooder coop. After a few tries, we gave up and let them just be in the coop while we cleaned. They are going to have to get used to it anyway. I'm not boxing up a bunch of full-grown hens every time I have to clean the coop. It's not worth the effort it would require.

I took this video of them after I finished cleaning the coop. I just used my camera, not my video camera. I didn't realize it recorded sound, too.
I've started to come up with names for them, but haven't told the kids any of them until today. Today I told Ammon that the black chicken's name is Beauty (if she turns out to be a hen.) I was tired of feeling embarrassed every time he'd talk about her because he'd call her by her breed which is Black Sex-Link. It was a little disconcerting when he'd run to the house shouting at the top of his lungs things like, "Mom, the black sex-link just flew up to the roost." Call me old-fashioned, but I don't like my 10-year-old son shouting out that "s" word for any reason.

A New Temporary Home

Yesterday my wonderful husband converted our old dog house into a bigger brooder box for my little darlings. (He'd have built me a chicken coop if I could make up my mind about a design.)

He had some help --lucky man!

Last night after dinner we moved all the chicks to their new home. They have so much more room now. They are so amazing to me. They already know who they are and what they are supposed to do. As they ran around their new home, they would find little specks of sawdust stuck to the walls. These specs were so small that we did not notice them until the chicks pointed them out. As soon as they'd find one, they'd go after it attacking it and pecking at it as if it were some bug. No one had to teach them that they eat bugs, they just knew it. It made me contemplative. I wondered if when children are born, do they know who they are and do we as adults, for whom often the question has become clouded, teach them that they are someone less than who they know themselves to be? Hmmm. . . . .

One of the things that I was most excited about the new brooder box is that it we were able to elevate their waterer. Hopefully there will be no more wood chips in the waterer! Ammon is most excited to see them learn to use the roosting bar. He thinks they need to be shown how to roost. They had already been trying to roost in the old, too-small brooder box. They would fly up to the one open edge of the box and have to be shooed back into it.

Here they are all loving the new, elevated waterer.

And here they are just before we tucked them in for the night. Aren't they just adorable?

First thing this morning (ok actually not until about 6:30) I went out to make sure they survived the night in their new home and, of course, they did. They did! They stayed warm enough (my biggest worry) and they were happily peeping, eating, drinking, and playing little chicken games. (BIG BONUS! There are no wood chips in the waterer!!!)

Great Mathematicians

My chicks are great mathematicians! I know this because they multiplied.

From some of the things I read, I was worried about the chicks drowning in their water dish, so I decided just to use a deepish lid for their water and check it frequently. It worked fairly well, but I was having to fill it every hour and they were pooping in it, too. I got tired of having to clean the dish so frequently, so I went to IFA on Tuesday to buy a waterer. While I was there, I couldn't resist buying two more chicks to finish off my flock. I'm not sure what breed these new two are. They look a bit like the Aracauna chick, but then again they don't. They are black and orange and they have feathers on their feet. They are slightly younger than the others, but they are so cute!





All the chicks are growing sooooooo fast! I can already see that they are getting bigger. They aren't going to be able to stay in the plastic tub I have them in much longer. Yesterday when I was cleaning up their tub, I put them into the box that we brought them home in. They hardly fit and one of them could almost see over the edge of the box. How do they grow so quickly?

These are pictures of the new arrivals. I'm so glad I spread out the newspaper on the floor. One of them left evidence behind.

Peep! Peep! Peep!

I was running some errands with Ammon and Kylie. Ammon asked if we could just go look at the chicks at IFA. Since we were near there, I agreed.

I could hear the peeping of the hundreds of chicks before we even got close to the door. It's such a fun sound. We looked at all of them for a long time. There were darling little pheasants, some very sweet little turkeys, and hundreds of fuzzy little chicks. One of the salesmen at IFA approached us to see if we needed some help with the chicks. I told him I hadn't decided if we were getting the chicks today or not. He told me that if I were interested in taking some of the older chicks (about 2 weeks old), he'd sell them to me for $2.00 each. That was a good deal. After he went to help someone else, I called Ron and asked him if he thought I should get them today. He said to go ahead, so we went around gathering up a feeder and a feed lamp and chick starter. Then the salesman helped us get the chickens. I wanted to think about it and pick them all myself, but Ammon and Kylie were so excited that we ended up with only one that I picked. That's ok. I hope they are all hens, but I doubt we will get that lucky.

We got two Buff Orpingtons, one Araucana, one Plymouth Rock, one Black Sex-Link, and a white one that I didn't know what kind it was and in all the excitement forgot to ask. I guess we'll just wait to see what she grows up to be. (I hope she doesn't grow up to be a rooster.)

The kids are very anxious to pick names for them, but I want to wait and see their personalities first.

Right now they are in a box in my kitchen, but that won't last long because they are little pooping machines and I'm sure the aroma of chicken poop will get them kicked out as soon as we can get some chicken wire to put over the top of the box.

Chicken Dreams

I am so excited! I had heard that the county had passed an ordinance making it legal to keep chickens in your backyard. I've wanted chickens FOREVER. A friend recently sent me the link to the new ordinance. I was thrilled. I sent it to Ron and he said, "Let's do it." The next day when I passed the IFA marque, it said, "BABY CHICKS HAVE ARRIVED." So I have spent every spare moment of the last several days searching, reading, planning, and thinking about my chickens and their coop. I can hardly wait to go in and pick out my chicks. I love to go to IFA this time of year because the whole store is filled with the "peep, peep, peep" of those darling little balls of fluff. This year, I will get to take some of that peeping home with me. Wahoo!